Grammar compound directional complements – the usages of 起来 qilai – Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – You seem very tired and preoccupied today. Are you okay? Green Day 21 guns lyrics

“He who runs behind truck is exhausted, he who runs in front of truck is tired.” Running is exhausting and tiring, isn’t it?

I am very tired today after hours of workout, so, I think I will write a post about tired.
Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – You seem very tired and preoccupied today. Are you okay?
[ca_audio url=”http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/tired.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]

你今天看起来好像很累而且心事重重。你还好吗？
nǐ jīntiān kàn qǐlái hǎoxiàng hěn lèi érqiě xīnshì chóngchóng . nǐ hái hǎo ma ?
nǐ（你 pronoun, you) jīntiān (今天 noun, today) kàn qǐlái (看 kàn, verb, look；起来 qǐlái originally means up, and 看起来 kàn qǐlái means the way it looks) hǎoxiàng (好像 verb, seem) hěn (很 adverb, very) lèi (累 adjective, tired) érqiě (而且 conjunction, also, as well as) xīnshì ( 心事 xīn means heart, shì means things or matters; xīnshì together means things on mind) chóngchóng (重重 adjective, originally means layer after layer, hence it also means heavily, severely) . nǐ ( 你 pronoun, you) hái (还 adverb, still) hǎo (好 adjective, good) ma (吗 question marker)?

Chinese grammar, the usages of 起来 qǐlái and how to use it:

起来 qǐlái may combine with other verbs to function as complements indicating the direction of movement of the action indicated by the verb.
When 起来 qǐlái is used in this way, it is called compound directional complements. The usages of 起来 qǐlái can be very complicated. The original meaning of 起来 qǐlái means stand up. For example, if someone is sitting on a sofa and you want the person to stand up, then you can say 起来 qǐlái or 站起来 zhàn qǐlái ( 站 is a verb, means stand). For this reason, 起来 qǐlái two words signify an upward movement.

[ca_audio url=”http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/tired1.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]

(1) 起来 qǐlái signifies upward movement

站起来 stand up
zhàn qǐlái

跳起来 jump up
tiào qǐlái

拿起來 take it up
ná qǐlái

撿起來 pick it up
jiǎn qǐlái

However, 起来 can have other meanings, such as

(2) beginning of something

哭起来 begin crying
kū qǐlai

笑起来 begin laughing
xiào qǐlái

闹起来 begin disturbing or begin making noises
nào qǐlai

吵起来 begin arguing
chǎo qǐlai

打起来 begin fighting
dǎ qǐlái

叫起来 begin yelling
jiào qǐlai

(3) When 起来 is used after five senses verbs and certain verbs, it expresses the speaker’s feeling about something that he or she look at, listen to, touch, smell, feel, etc..

这朵花看起来很好看。
zhè duǒ huā kàn qǐlái hěn hǎokàn .
This flower looks very good looking.

那块布摸起来很平滑。
nà kuài bù mō qǐlai hěn pínghuá .
The cloth feels very smooth.

她唱的歌听起来很动人。
tā chàng de gē tīng qǐlai hěn dòngrén .
She sings it sounds very touching.

这菜吃起来真可口。
zhè cài chī qǐlai zhēn kěkǒu .
This dish tastes really delicious.

那束花闻起来真香。
nà zhāng shāfā zuò qilai zhēn shūfu .
That bouquet of flowers smells so fragrant.

这支笔写起来真好写。
zhè zhī bǐ xiě qǐlai zhēn hǎo xiě .
It is so well to write with this pen.

那张沙发坐起来真舒服。
nà zhāng shāfā zuò qilai zhēn shūfu .
It is so comfortable to sit on that sofa.

Green Day 21 guns

[ca_audio url=”http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Green-Day-21-guns-LYRICS.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]
Gun salutes are the firing of cannons or arms as an (military or naval) honor. The custom originates in naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent.
The world we live in has a lot of fights and wars, hope peace prevails — no hurting, no killing ….